WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Chris Dodd, CEO and Chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) along with Frederick J. Ryan, Jr., Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, are pleased to announce their partnership in programs honoring the contributions of Ronald Reagan to the motion picture industry to take place on November 14, 2011.

President Reagan’s contributions are manifold, but he remains a unique figure in American life because of his career in over fifty roles as an actor, president of the Screen Actors Guild, as a television host, Governor of the state of California and eventually president of the United States.

“President Reagan often remarked that the skills he developed in Hollywood as a negotiator and communicator served him well when he came to Washington,” said MPAA Chairman Dodd. “We look forward to exploring those communications gifts during our panel and to then celebrate his contributions to the film and television industry.”

“President Reagan’s story epitomizes the American Dream,” said Frederick J. Ryan, Jr. “From humble beginnings as a lifeguard, to working his way through college as a dishwasher, to launching a successful career in radio and television, before becoming one of our nation’s greatest presidents, Ronald Reagan’s life is one to be studied, remembered and applauded.”

The program will center around two events. The first event is a public panel at the MPAA on how President Reagan’s role in the motion picture industry shaped his role as president and impacted modern political communication. The second special event will be an intimate reception with Reagan Administration alumni and CEOs from the member studios of the MPAA.

Ronald Reagan’s film and television career spanned over 30 years and included well known roles in films such as The Santa Fe Trail, Kings Row, and Knute Rockne: All American. He was the host of General Electric Theater on CBS from 1954-1962. From 1947-1952 he served as president of the Screen Actors Guild.

17 Comments

Bill • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

Tribute to a B movie actor?

Justin Poppiti • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

“President Reagan’s contributions are manifold, but he remains a unique figure in American life because of his career in over fifty roles as an actor, president of the Screen Actors Guild, as a television host, Governor of the state of California and eventually president of the United States.”

There ya go, Bill. I think you missed the above.

Luis • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

Bravo! The greatest president this great nation ever had.

Deregulation • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

Yeah, Reagan began the deregulation that led to the current economy and the Wall Street leeches. Go Reagan. Thank you.

Hedge • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

If you think our current economic malaise is anything but a government made problem then you are willfully ignorant of the facts. It is the late 1970’s all over again thanks to meddling central planners in Wash. DC and elsewhere.

D.Z. • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

If you ignored the fact that he had Alzheimer’s, sold weapons to Iran, and downplayed the AIDS crisis, then sure.

Ed • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

Perhaps you’ve forgotten than as President of SAG he SUPPORTED Senator McCarthy and the Hollywood Blacklists. Or that as President of SAG, he sold out his membership so that he could pay his own bills. Or that as Governor of California he had anti-war protesting students at Berkeley arrested. Or that as President, his very first official act was to take down the solar panels Carter had put up on the White House. Or that Iran-Contra was essentially a coup-d’etat that was treason. Or that he personally stood in the way of stem-cell research, even though his own wife now admits it might have helped HIM. Or that he began the modern anti-union movement with his firing of the air traffic controllers who only wanted better pay and more rest so that the rest of us could be safe. Or that he presided over the worst raping of the environment in human history when he appointed James Watt Secretary of the Interior. Or that he ran up the highest budgest deficits in the history of this country, until George Bush and George Bush II. Or that he called John F. Kennedy a communist.

I could go on for another hour but I’m tired.

James • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

Ed:

Thank you for singing Reagan’s praises. I love hearing about all those great things he did. Oh, and actually, his first official act was to end price controls on oil which quickly ended the shortages. The shortages were almost entirely created by government efforts to keep the price artificially low. If the oil price had been allow to rise with supply and demand there wouldn’t have been oil shortages in the 1970s.

“Or that he ran up the highest budgest deficits in the history of this country, until George Bush and George Bush II.”

Interesting that you forgot to add Obama’s deficits to that list since they are bigger than Reagan’s entire budgets. And there is no George Bush II, it’s George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. Different names, therefore not II or Jr.

Get your facts right, including this one:

Reagan is one of the top five greatest presidents of all time!

gary • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

“Bedtime for Bonzo” wins an Oscar?

noname • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

Fixed it for the MPAA:

“From humble beginnings as a lifeguard, to working his way through college as a dishwasher, to launching a successful career in radio and television, before becoming the nation’s greatest president, Ronald Reagan’s life is one to be studied, remembered and applauded.”

Bedtime For Bonzo • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

Rock, sometime when (I) the team is up (R) against it (A) and the breaks (N) are beating the boys (C) tell them to (O) go out there (N) with all they’ve got (T) and win just one (R) for the Gipper. (A)

Bill • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

Not even close to the best President by a long shot, and a wooden hammy actor to boot. This smells of paid political pandering to prop up his shoddy acting and political career into a mythical one.

Lorenzo • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

Reagan was not a B movie actor; he was quite a big star. Moreover, as president, who liberated Eastern Europe from Soviet tyranny, thus spreading freedom of expression, art, entertainment and HOLLYWOOD to several hundred million people.

Ed • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

Reagan’s contributions to the industry? You mean “the Great Giveaway” where he sold out his SAG members on pre-1960 residuals so he could get out of his own financial trouble and make money with Lew Wasserman of MCA?

I’ll quote…

“Reagan was the subject of criminal and civil investigations by both the FBI and a federal grand jury in Los Angeles. A Justice Department memorandum quoted a Hollywood source as saying, “Ronald Reagan is a complete slave of MCA who would do their bidding on anything.”

Reagan was subpoenaed before the grand jury, but he appeared to experience amnesia during his testimony on February 5, 1962, and failed to recall the major decisions that had been made when SAG had granted MCA the exclusive blanket waiver in 1952. Federal prosecutors were so convinced that Reagan had perjured himself repeatedly during his testimony that they subpoenaed his and his wife’s income tax returns for the years 1952 to 1955.”
–Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob (Viking Press, pp. 167-201)

joe sixpack • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

Reagan helped to destroy communism in Eastern Europe, that will be his greatest legacies. Unfortunately, several of those communist cockroaches have made their way to post on this board. Sorry, trolls, Reagan won by two landslide elections, is heralded as one of the greatest presidents of the 20th century, and has accomplished more than you still-living-in-your-parent’s basement hack liberals will ever do. Begone, Commie Liberals. You lost!

Mary • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

And as most Republicans want to whitewash and forget, he actually increased taxes as both Governor and President.

Hedge • on Oct 11, 2011 12:51 pm

Obviously you are confusing tax rates with tax revenues…let me set you straight.

Reagan and DP Moynahan rewrote the tax law in 1982 and 1986 to lower rates, broaden the tax base, and close loopholes…to the effect of stimulating private economic activity after 10 years of Nixon/Carter interference which left the US stagnant and suffering over 20% interest rates and 12% unemployment…the economic growth led to expanded revenues from the lower tax rates and 30 years of unprecedented wealth expansion and opportunity in the country.